Unintended consequences of change

The sport of sailing, in a macro sense, has suffered through the unintended consequences of change. Efforts to improve specific areas have not always been kind as Gail Turluck highlights in this report:

To turn youth sailors into life sailors, more sailing instruction programs need to look beyond age-based boats and get connected to small-boat day-racing One Design fleets in their areas.

When we were young, kids crewed on Lightnings, Flying Scots, Stars, Solings, Blue Jays, etc., and owned (or their families owned) Sunfish, Snipes, El Toros, Penguins, etc. The fleet captains and boat owners worked to draw them into the fleets, and eventually they became owners.

My little Club, Gull Lake Sailing Club, started with the Gull Lake Sunfish Fleet that needed a new home; we created a paper club. We had been moved out of a country club/yacht club as our participants weren’t willing to pay high dues for 18 Wednesday evenings and a regatta.

We’re thriving! From six boats six years ago, we now are up to 20 Sunfish and this year added Portsmouth racing. We’re all about keeping the budget under control, yet supporting the Class Associations. We enjoy camaraderie at the pub across the road after racing or enjoy occasional potlucks. Simple!

The big yacht clubs have lost the vision of the importance of small sailboats, and the steady feed of boat owners they provide which often, very often, eventually buy larger boats. Having small-boat day-racing one design fleets were the secret to success in the 1950s-80s.

Volunteers have been the key to controlling costs. The ongoing push to pay for officials is extremely troubling. Expectations have grown: lunch, dinner, polo shirt, goodie bag, other swag, housing (now motel preferred) makes hosting big events a financial challenge. Not every race is the America’s Cup, Olympic Games, etc.

Triangle race courses did add an occasional bit of “luck” to outcomes; those lucky wins by an oft-fleet tailender are what kept them coming back! It MIGHT happen again. That trophy sits in a place of high pride and helps draw more people to the sport by those folks telling their tale with pride. Our club does sail triangles when the breeze is up—planing and wave surfing is FUN!